HomeMy WebLinkAboutPC_Minutes_1967_06_05MINUTES OF THE ADJOURNED MEETING OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION held at the City of
Hermosa Beach, California, in the Council Chambers of City Hall at 8:00 p,rn.,
on Monday June 5, 1967.
ROLL CALL -Pre s ent: Comm. Armer, Reeve s , Noble, Boice, Hamilton, Hal es ,
Chairman Viault •
Bud M, Trott, Building & Planning Director
Frank Gehry, Guest Speaker fr om t he Goodkin Group
The Chairman opened the mee ting and introduced Mr. Frank Gehry, ar ch itect and
designer of the redevelopment p lan for the Central Business District o f Hermosa
Beach. Mr. Gehry explained to t hose present that the plan involved a program
which was set up by the City to revitaliz e th e central business di strict . Mr.
Gehry said t hat the Master Plan, which has been adopted by Hermosa Be ach, was
analyzed by the Goodkin Gr o up, and that they ha d me t with int ere st ed officials
from t he c omm unity and developed a program capitalizing on the key el ements
within t he Ci ty, They were made aware of the great amount of beach traffic and
its impact on the community; th e y took a look at existing structures in the
cen ter of th e community and found that for the most pa rt, existing st ructures
were in need of repairs, or outdated ; they examined the topography of the land
and felt it was unusual. The Goodkin Group be! ieved that a ny p lan t hat
developed should take the positive elements and capitalize on t hem. They
determined quite e arly in their planning, that Hermosa would not attract a
major department store because o f th e semi-circular trade area, Th e plan
they presented is a s et of goal s to make what Hermosa now has go to work
for the City, giving the City a se nse of direction. Mr. Gehry s aid that
a City is in busi nes s, and mu st compete ac co rdingly.
I t was f elt t hat vertical separation was best, leaving be ac h traffic on
ground level , and placing offices etc. abov e . The life that th e beach
tr a ffic gen e rates is workbhkae~ing, and whatever happens, the people on
the up pe r levels have a n opportunity to participate. Selection of Pier Avenue
as the ce nter was based on the fa c t that to reloca te t he cen ter would lose
an advantage Hermosa already possesses. The Pier is an el eme nt of excitement
a~d activity.
Th e method of putting the project together is up to the City. If we wish to
retain the ide ntity of Hermosa Beach as a city, we must do what anyone in business
would do -sell our product. A major obs tacle is the fact that the land is
under separate ownership, and it is nece ssary th at the landowner s work tog et her
toward a common goal. Mr, Ge hry mentioned that o t her communities have
acccmpli sh ed this. As an example, the City of Fr es no organized a group of
top business men, and these men individually invested their own money and
developed a plan that seemed impossible at the outset. It took time a nd
a great deal of work, but they welded togeth e r t~ward a common goal. Business
leaders in Hermosa Beach wi 11 have to form a citizen's g roup of some kind,
th at will decide the direction to be t aken . This group could bring their
abilities as s ucces sf ul business me n to help devel0p the City. It will take
this effort, or the alternative -urban renewal.
Planning Commission Pa ge 2 Jun e S, 1967
The Chairman thanked Hr. Gehry and invited qu esti on s and opinions from the
Commission and from the audience. Some of the mo re important points made
were as follows:
Question:
Answer:
Question:
Answer:
Question:
An~wer:
Qu es tion:
Answer:
How did the Goodkin Group come up with t his particular design?
We tri e d to capita lize on the topography of the land, the beach
traffic, the e xisting land whi c h is City own ed and used for parking,
and the knowledge that to do anything that would mean anything , the
plan would have to be strong eno ugh and bold enough to attr act
d e velopers. We dev e loped the multi-level arrang eme n t which
concentrates · the activity and allows the City to get the most
use out of a s mall are a. This also works in with the s hopping
h ab its of people, who pre f er to park near t he shopping center .
What types of bu siness will exi st on the ground l e vel, and what
type at t he upper level.
At the beach l evel would be such things as hot dog stands et c .,
and the upper level would have spe ciality shops an d so forth.
Will ther e be enough lig ht and ventilation in th e lower level s .
South Coast Pl az a in Costa Mesa, and Topan~a Plaza are successful
covered malls. On the parking level, light a nd ventila ti0n · c0uld
be controlled by th e amount of parking allowed.
Will not the density be in conf lict with our Mas ter Plan.
On e must be realistic about density patterns, and the pr es sur es
th at will exist by living next to a metropolis. This same thought
should b e applied to t he subject of high rise.
Comm. Noble said that he approved of the concep t, and believed Hermosa
ne eded to change its image. Councilman Thelen, speak ing f rom the audienc e ,
stat ed that the pl an was I magina t ive, but that it s houl d be econom~cally feasible,
and implementation might take a while. Councilman Valdes, also present, s aid
th at he was not too concerned a bout th e density problem, and fe lt that the
Master Plan left room for expansion .
Mr. James Weber, Assistant City Manager, int roduced Hr. Wesley McDaniel, City
Ma~ager. Mr. McDaniel said that it was a pleasure to attend this me e ting,
and ~h at as a newcomer, he would prefer to listen to what was be ing s aid,
rath e r than to spe ak at this time.
Mary Edgerton, City Clerk, als o expr es sed her enthusiasm for the pla n .
Speaking for the Chamber of Commerce were Mr. Bill Boullt, Pre sident; Hr.
Loui s Fie ld , Manager; Miss Corky Bea rd.
Local businessman, Mr. Greenwald, approved the plan and stated th at he
found nothing wrong with high density. Also spe aking in favor of th e plan,
Hr. Paul Schumacker, r e sident and real esta t e .appraiser, discussed some of the
aspec ts of urb a n renewal.
Planning Commissi o n Page 3 Jun e 5, 1967
Mr. Martin Faerber, President of Verd es In ve stmen t Pr o perties, Inc., wa s
invited to expres s hi s opinions. Mr. Fae rber said th a t i f th e City wishes
private e nterprise to develop the pl a n, the y will hav e to list e n to what
the developer ma y s ugge st and wishes to accomplish, and the Ci t y sh o uld
work with the developer to see what c an be do ne to bring about the ne cessary
chan ges. A de vel op er is fa c ed with t he probl e m o f how to make a pr o fit,
and how much money should be inve st e d in a particular s ite.
Ther e were qu es tions asked abou t the area just ~ut s ide t he r e de ve lopment
plan, and Mr. Gehry told th os e pre sent that suc h areas e ventually are al t ered
an d i mp ro ved a s th e plan becomes a r e ality. The hotel woul d be t he hub o f the
plan, and the plan does all ow for fu t ure dev el o pment and expinsi o n. The plan
can be complet e d i n seg me nt s , or in total.
A motion wa s made by Comm . Re e ve s, s econd e d by Comm. Noble, that the Pla nn ing
Comm ission hold a public hearing on th e proposed r ede vel opme nt p lan for the
downtown bu s in es s di s tri ct . The mo tion carried by the following vote:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
Comm. Reev e s, Noble, Hales, Hamilton
Comm. Arme r , Boice, Chairman Viault
None
Mot ion was ma de by Comm. Reev e s, second e d by Comm , Hales, to adopt P.C. Re s olution
154-615, a resolution of intention to hold a public hearing in Council Chamb e rs
of Ci ty Hall at 8 p.m. on July 17, 196 7 to c o nsider t he r e de ve lopm e nt plan for
th e central business distri c t o f He rmos a Beach. Motion carried by unanimous vo te .
Comm. Reeves stat e d that his re a son f or mak i ng the mo t ion was based on
pas t hi sto r y , and beca use he believ e d th e urban renewal and hi g h ri s e as pects
discussed, c a lled for a nother publi c hea ri ng .
Chairman Viault spoke t o those pres e nt and th a nked e ve r yone for t heir interest,
which was evidenc ed by their attendance a t this me eting.
Comm. Reeves made a mo t ion
ADJOURNMENT: 10 P.M.
fo r ad journmetit.
r~4E? -NrmanR e eve s , Sec r e t a r y